My pet Oscar(fish) has a hole that has appeared above his right eye. Does anyone know what might cause this?

Question

He also has what appears to be the shakes as if he is nervous. All reputable answers will be given a thumbs up.

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Here is a great site on HITH/HLLE aka hole in the head ... possible ways it is caused and ways to help make it go away
http://www.worldcichlids.com/diseases/Adamhith.html

The position is almost definitely HITH OR he scraped himself against something ... that usually will heal in a couple days to a week. They can take chunks out of themselves at times, or have scrapes that look like fungus ... monitor it and compare it to the pictures in that link above ... HITH takes a long time to heal. Sensory pits are tiny holes that some fear them to be HITH, but again, look at the picutres to be certain.

The seizure like activity can be several things. The most common reason is that your fish is either finally matured enough, or has been mature enough to start showing its dominance. They can do this because they are agitated, or just because they are showing it is their territory. I have watched two Os do this to each other, often times locking lips and tail slapping afterwards ... also either showing dominance or mating habits.

If it happens only after a water change, a possibility could be temperature change, ph/other water quality major change ... or just a water quality issue (high nitrates, etc.) A heater that is having a short, shocking him ... can use a multimeter to check for that ... but those are extremes, and other things are usually the cause and other symptoms are usually apparent. Another great item to own would be a quality water test kit. API master test kit gives you a lot of test for the price, Kordon has a powder based test that is more accurate, lasts a little longer, but is MUCH MORE expensive.

Make sure your temp is at near 78F, your ammonia and nitrites are at 0 ppm, your nitrates stay below 10 ppm or at most 20 ppm. If you don't already have it, you will need filtration rate of 10x tank size for power/hang on back filters or 5-7x flow rate for canister filters. Undergravel filters are not recommended. (so a hob would need 550 gph for a 55 gallon tank, canister 275-385 gph). 55-75 gallon tank for a single Oscar is also recommended for territory and to help keep the water diluted some. A 55 gallon tank with a full grown Oscar will need at least two 50% water changes a week, unless you are heavily planted (which most Os will eat and tear up). The best way to know when to do a water change is as follows, if your test for nitrates is 20 ppm or above, change the water, if there is a lot of waste on the bottom of the tank, change some water.

It also helps to remove uneaten food and not over feed. If you Oscar is at least 8", you can go to feeding as much as it can eat once every other day OR as much as it can eat in about 3 minutes once every day, OR two small feedings a day. If still smaller than that, don't skip a day, and can feed slightly more. Never use feeder fish unless you raise them yourself to prevent disease introduction and if you do use a feeder, use a tropical, never a cold water fish such as goldfish, it causes fatty liver disease. Use a varied diet of quality pellets for 80-90%, great treats are Hikari freeze dried krill and frozen bloodworms or frozen mysis shrimp. You can also supplement wtih vita-chem for freshwater fish.

That sums up a good part of what it will say in the HITH article, basically very clean water and a nutritional varied diet will allow most of the HITH to heal up on its own. Melafix is good with helping to heal wounds and fin damage on Oscars, Pimafix is good for bacteria/fungus/parasites ... which with wounds you might want to try as well.

Best to you and hope he gets looking better soon ... I hope he doesn't look like any of the ones on that site! Take care.

Answer 2

Sounds like Hole in the head disease. There's a bunch of possible causes of it, with the most prominent being high nitrates or a lack of a varied diet. Usually there's a secondary infection to it called hexamita-some say that's what causes the HITH disease, but like I said, I think it's been proven that is secondary.

Best treatment for HITH, check your nitrates. You want them under 20 ppm, do large water changes. When I had my oscar, I did a 50% water change once a week. Also, oscars should have a minimum 55 gallons for one oscar, again that's because of water quality issues, plus they get so big(mine was 14 inches).
Also, you'll want to vary his diet up during the week. Use a good quality pellet food, frozen bloodworms, frozen krill, cut up pieces of cocktail or salad shrimp, live worms, crickets, beefheart, etc. And, once or twice a week, soak the pellet food in a small bowl with some liquid vitamins(I used the childrens poly vi sol liquid vitamin, was easier to find). Soak for a few minutes before feeding. I would especially do this while treating for the HITH.

Those two alone should take care of the HITH, you may need to get an antibiotic for that hexamita if he doesn't improve with the diet and water changes, but try those 2 first. You'll want an antibiotic that contains metronidazole, pet store should have this. The hole won't go away, it'll be a permanent scar on him. Good luck!!

Answer 3

Hey! It does sound like hole in the head but without a picture it can be hard to tell. But if he or she has hole in the head they develop small or large holes especially the head area but can be around the eyes or all over the head area. Sometimes they will also have yellow cheesy strings of mucus will trail from the lesions. Affected fish often go off their food and develop a hollow bellied appearance with pale stringy faeces. Lesions may also develop at the base of the fins and near the lateral line. What causes this disease can be overcrowding, low oxygen levels,unhygenic conditions, changes in water temperature and poor diet and if the conditions doesn't improve in the tank it could cause acute symptoms that could kill your fish but most of the time it does the fish little harm except that it looks bad. But if it was my fish I would treat it will dimetridazole or metronidazole that's if it is real bad because both of these are available only with a veterinary prescription in certain countries. If he or she is still eating try medicated food if he or she is not eating try Hex-a-mit! Also check water conditions like your ph,ammonia levels,nitrite,nitrate and for copper make sure everything is o.k and check your water temperature it might be to cold they like around 73-81 degrees. I love talking and learning about fish. If you have any more questions let us know I will be glad to help you if I can. I hope your Oscar gets better. Good luck!

Answer 4

Hole-in-the-head is correct.

While nobody is clear on exactly why it happens, we can say fairly surely that it derives from stress. Many fish get it, in the aquarium Oscars and Discus are especially prone. It tends to be water quality, due to their need for large tanks with excellent filtration, or diet, due to their need for more food then most fish and a varied and high quality diet. It wouldn't be protein since Oscars thrive off high protein diets (though not meats from any mammals or birds). The stress can also be attributed to poor tank mates choices, like other cichlids or fish too active and hyper like tinfoil barbs.

And in the end it's also been found that some Oscars can be prone to it through nothing more then poor breeding - in these cases it can occur despite giving them all of the best care.

Since HITH has been linked with heximita, a protozoan disease, a strong medication such as Clout would be your best bet for fixing this (that and making sure you have fixed anything regarding his diet and tank that might have contributed to the problem). While the wounds will always remain as scars, many have succeeded in stopping it from spreading further. Unchecked, it will continue to spread and become rather gross, and eventually he'll die.

Answer 5

Hole in the head. I was given a fish with that problem. (Jaguar) There is no cure. I tried to research it. google Hole in the head. jags and oscars are common to get it.

basically they think poor food, poor water quality are the main culprits. I found the best way to stop it or slow it down a lot was to complete strip the tank. left it in the sun for a week, scrubbed hell outta it and recycled it. it seems to stop the hole getting bigger. I also found the Jag would shake too.
Good luck it's horrible to see.

Answer 6

Oscars are very prone to a condition called "hole in the head" disease (it's really called that). It tends to start around the eyes. The exact cause is unknown but it's possibly caused by a protozoa. Metronidazole is one of the usual treatments. Good luck.

Answer 7

Sounds like hole in the head but you have to be sure of this! do several small water changes over the next few weeks doing 10-20% every other day or so

Answer 8

This is very common in cichlids and is called "hole in the head disease" -- original eh?
I believe it's caused from too meaty of a diet. What do you feed your Oscar generally? bloodworms, tubifex worms, feeder fish, brine shrimp, beefheart/liver are all examples of very high protein foods. A better balance is probably the answer. I don't believe there's a cure for the hole once they have it.

Answer 9

bacteria in the water maybe. I got a telescope fish once and one of his eye blew out, it was awful and it was because the water was contaminated.

Answer 10

it met a cheap fish and got herpies